Upgrading Field-Programmable Devices

In general terms, field-programmable devices (FPDs) are hardware devices implemented on router cards that support separate upgrades. The term “FPD” has been introduced to collectively and generically describe any type of programmable hardware device on the Cisco 7600 Series Ethernet Services Plus (ES+) and Ethernet Services Plus T (ES+T) line card.

This chapter describes the information that you need to know to verify image versions and to perform Cisco 7600 Series ES+ and ES+T line card FPD upgrades.

Note The information provided in this chapter is applicable to both the ES+ and ES+T line cards unless specified otherwise.

FPD Quick Upgrade

This section provides information if you simply want to upgrade FPDs for Cisco 7600 Series ES+ line cards as quickly as possible. These instructions are not always feasible for operating network environments and are not the only methods available for upgrading FPDs. If these methods of upgrade are not suitable for your situation, see the various other sections of this document for other methods of upgrading FPDs.

Step 1 When getting your Cisco IOS image, download the FPD image package for the Cisco IOS release that you are upgrading to any Flash disk on your router before booting the new version of Cisco IOS. The FPD image package can be retrieved from the same site where you went to get your Cisco IOS image. Do not change the name of the FPD image package.

Step 2 Boot using the new version of Cisco IOS. When the new Cisco IOS boots, it by default searches for the FPD image package in the router flash file systems and the FPD images will be updated automatically as part of the IOS boot process.

FPD Quick Upgrade After Upgrading your Cisco IOS Release

Step 1 An FPD upgrade is not always necessary after Cisco IOS is reloaded. If you have already reloaded your Cisco IOS, enter the show hw-module all fpd command to see if all system FPDs are compatible. If the FPDs are compatible, no further action is necessary. If at least one FPD needs an upgrade, proceed to Step 2.

Step 2Go to the cisco.com site where you downloaded your specific Cisco IOS software and locate the FPD image package.

Step 3 Download this FPD image package to a Flash disk on your router. Do not change the name of the FPD image package.

Do not change any FPD-related settings on your system (if upgrade fpd auto or upgrade fpd path has been changed, change the settings back to the default settings using the no form of the command). Reboot your Cisco IOS release software. When the new Cisco IOS boots, it by default searches for the FPD image package in the Flash file systems and the FPD images will be updated automatically as part of the IOS boot process.

Overview of FPD Images and Packages

An FPD image package is used to upgrade FPD images. Whenever a Cisco IOS image is released that supports the Cisco 7600 Series ES+ line cards, a companion FPD image package is also released for that Cisco IOS software release. The FPD image package is available from Cisco.com and is accessible from the Cisco Software Center page where you also go to download your Cisco IOS software image.

If you are running Cisco 7600 Series ES+ line cards on your router and are upgrading your Cisco IOS image, you should download the FPD image package file before booting the router using the new Cisco IOS release. If the Cisco 7600 Series ES+ line card requires an FPD upgrade and the Cisco IOS image is unable to locate an FPD image package, the system messages will indicate that the FPD image is incompatible and you will need to go to the Cisco Software Center on Cisco.com to download the FPD image package for your Cisco IOS software release. An FPD incompatibility on a Cisco 7600 Series ES+ line card disables all interfaces on that Cisco 7600 Series ES+ line card until the incompatibility is addressed.

Note The FPD automatic upgrade feature only searches for the FPD image package file that is the same version number as the Cisco IOS release being used by the system. For example, if the Cisco IOS release being used is Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SRD, then the system will search for the FPD image package file that supports the specific Cisco IOS release (c7600-fpd-pkg.122-33.SRD.pkg). Therefore, ensure the FPD image package file on your system is compatible with your Cisco IOS release and do not change the name of the FPD image package file.

Upgrading FPD Images

This section documents some of the common scenarios where FPD image updates are necessary. It discusses the following scenarios:

Placing the FPD image package for the IOS release that you are upgrading to before upgrading IOS is the recommended method for upgrading FPD because it is simple in addition to being fast. To perform this type of FPD upgrade, follow these steps:

Step 1 While still running the Cisco IOS release that will be upgraded, place the FPD image package for the new version of Cisco IOS onto one of your router’s Flash file systems. For instance, if you are running Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SRD and are upgrading to a newer release, place the FPD image package for the newer release onto a Flash file system while still running Cisco IOS Release 12.2(33)SRD. You can locate the FPD image package for a specific IOS release on cisco.com from the same area where you download that Cisco IOS software image. Your router and Cisco 7600 Series ES+ line cards should continue to operate normally since this action will have no impact on the current FPDs.

Caution Do not change the filename of the
FPD image package file. The Cisco IOS searches for the FPD image package file by filename, so the FPD image package file cannot be found if it has been renamed.

Step 2 Reboot your router using the new upgraded Cisco IOS image. As part of the bootup process, the router will search for the FPD image package. Since the default settings for the FPD image package search are to check for the FPD image package for the specific Cisco IOS Release in a Flash file system, the FPD image package will be located during the bootup procedure and all FPDs that required upgrades will be upgraded.

Step 3 When the router has booted, verify the upgrade was successful by entering the show hw-module all fpd command.

Upgrade FPD Images after Upgrading the New Cisco IOS Release

The following steps explain how to upgrade FPD images if you have already upgraded your Cisco IOS release but still need to upgrade your FPD images.

To perform an FPD upgrade after the new Cisco release has been booted, follow these steps:

Step 1 If you are unsure if your FPD images for your Cisco 7600 Series ES+ line cards are compatible, enter the show hw-module all fpd command to verify compatibility of all Cisco 7600 Series ES+ line cards. If all of your Cisco 7600 Series ES+ line cards are compatible, there is no reason to perform this upgrade.

Step 2 If an FPD upgrade is necessary, place the FPD image package for the new version of Cisco IOS onto the router’s Flash Disk or on an accessible FTP or TFTP server. You can locate the FPD image package on cisco.com from the same area where you downloaded your Cisco IOS software image.

Step 3 Enter the upgrade hw-module [slot slot-number ] file-url command. The file-url command should direct users to the location of the FPD image package. For instance, if you had placed the FPD image package for Release 12.2(33)SRD on the TFTP server abrick/muck/myfolder, you would enter upgrade hw-module [slot slot-number ] tftp://abrick/muck/myfolder/c7600-fpd-pkg.122-33.SRD.pkg to complete this step.

If multiple Cisco 7600 Series ES+ line cards require upgrades, the different pieces of hardware will have to be updated individually.

Note With the new Cisco IOS release running, if the ES+ cards are disabled or powered down due to any FPD upgrade errors, the only way to do an FPD upgrade is by reloading the line card using hw-module reset command (assuming that you have already copied the necessary FPD bundle file in to the file system).The upgrade hw-module command works only when the line card is in the UP state.

Step 4 Verify the upgrade was successful by entering the show hw-module all fpd command.

Upgrading FPD Images in a Production System

Adding a Cisco 7600 Series ES+ line card to a production system presents the possibility that the Cisco 7600 Series ES+ line card may contain versions of FPD images that are incompatible with the Cisco IOS release currently running the router. In addition, the FPD upgrade operation can be a very CPU-intensive operation and therefore the upgrade operation may take more time when it is performed on a production system. The performance impact will vary depending on various factors, including network traffic load, the type of processing engine used, type of Cisco 7600 Series ES+ line card, and the type of service configured.

For these reasons, we recommend that one of the following alternatives be used to perform the FPD upgrade on a production system if possible:

Using a Non-Production System to Upgrade the Cisco 7600 Series ES+ Line Card FPD Image

Before beginning the upgrade, ensure:

The spare system is running the same version of the Cisco IOS software release that the target production system is running.

The automatic upgrade feature is enabled on the spare system (the automatic upgrade feature is enabled by default. It can also be enabled using the upgrade fpd auto command).

Use the following procedure to perform an upgrade on a spare system:

Step 1 Download the FPD image package file to the router’s flash file system or TFTP or FTP server accessible by the spare system. In most cases, it is preferable to place the file in a Flash file system since the router, by default, searches for the FPD image package in the Flash file systems. If the Flash file systems are full, use the upgrade fpd path command to direct the router to search for the FPD image package in the proper location.

Step 2 Insert the ES+ line card into the spare system.

If an upgrade is required, the system will perform the necessary FPD image updates so that when this ES+ line card is inserted to the target production system it will not trigger an FPD upgrade operation there.

Step 3 Verify the upgrade was successful by entering the show hw-module all fpd command.

Step 4 Remove the ES+ line card from the spare system after the upgrade.

Step 5 Insert the ES+ line card into the target production system.

Verifying System Compatibility First

If a spare system is not available to perform an upgrade, you can check for system compatibility by disabling the automatic upgrade feature before inserting the ES+ line card (the automatic upgrade feature is enabled by default. It can be disabled using the no upgrade fpd auto command).

If the FPD images on the ES+ line card are compatible with the system, you will only need to re-enable the automatic upgrade feature (the automatic upgrade feature can be re-enabled using the upgrade fpd auto command).

If the FPD images on the ES+ line card are not compatible with the system, the ES+ line card is disabled but will not impact system performance by attempting to perform an automatic upgrade.

Use the following procedure to check the FPD images on the ES+ line card for system compatibility:

If the FPD images are compatible, the ES+ line card will operate successfully after bootup.

If the FPD images are not compatible, the ES+ line card is disabled. At this point we recommend that you wait for a scheduled maintenance when the system is offline to manually perform the FPD upgrade using one of the procedures outlined in the “Upgrading FPD Images” section.

Upgrading FPD Images Using Fast Software Upgrade

When using FSU to upgrade the Cisco IOS image, remember that Cisco IOS software is configured, by default, to automatically load the new FPD images from a flash file system on the router. Therefore, if the FPD image package for the new Cisco IOS has not been downloaded to the router flash file system, the FPD image that needs to be upgraded will not get upgraded if the new supervisor engine with the upgraded Cisco IOS becomes the primary supervisor engine. To ensure FPD is upgraded at the time of the FSU, place the FPD image package for the new version of Cisco IOS onto the flash file system before upgrading the Cisco IOS and follow the instructions in the “Upgrading FPD Images Before Upgrading Cisco IOS Release (Recommended)” section.

Optional FPD Procedures

This section provides information for optional FPD-related functions. None of the topics discussed in this section are necessary for completing FPD upgrades, but may be useful in some FPD-related scenarios. It covers the following topics:

Manually Upgrading ES+ Line Card FPD Images

To manually upgrade the current FPD version on a ES+ line card, use the following command:

Router# upgrade hw-module [slot slot-number]filefile-url

In this example, slot-number is the slot where the ES+ line card is installed, file-url is the location and name of the FPD image package file.

Caution An image upgrade can require a long period of time to complete depending on the ES+ line card.

Upgrading FPD from an FTP or TFTP Server

The generally recommended method to perform an FPD image upgrade is to download the FPD image package to a Flash file system and use the FPD automatic upgrade. By default, the system searches the Flash file system for the FPD image package file when an FPD incompatibility is detected.

This default behavior of loading an FPD image from Flash can be changed using the upgrade fpd path global configuration command, which sets the path to search for the FPD image package file to a location other than the router’s Flash file systems.

For large deployments where all the systems are being upgraded to a specific Cisco IOS software release, we recommend that the FPD image package file be placed on an FTP or TFTP server that is accessible to all the affected systems, and then use the upgrade fpd path global configuration command to configure the routers to look for the FPD image package file from the FTP or TFTP server prior to the reloading of the system with the new Cisco IOS release.

Note This approach can also be used if there is not enough disk space on the system Flash card to hold the FPD image package file.

To download an FPD image package file to an FTP or TFTP server, use the following procedure:

Step 1 Copy the FPD image package file to the FTP or TFTP server.

Step 2 From global configuration mode, use the upgrade fpd path command to instruct the router to locate the FPD image package file from the FTP or TFTP server location.

For example, enter one of the following global configuration commands from the target system’s console:

Note The final “/” at the end of each of the above examples is required. If the path is specified without the trailing “/” character, the command will not work properly.

In these examples, my_tftpserver or my_ftpserver is the path to server name, fpd_pkg_dir is the directory on the TFTP server where the FPD image package is located, and login:password is your FTP login name and password.

Step 3 Make sure that the FPD automatic upgrade feature is enabled by examining the output of the show running-config command. (Look for the upgrade fpd auto configuration line in the output. If there are no upgrade commands in the output, then upgrade fpd auto is enabled because it is the default setting.) If automatic upgrades are disabled, use the upgrade fpd auto global configuration command to enable automatic FPD upgrades.

Step 4 Enter the show upgrade fpd file command to ensure your router is connecting properly to the default FPD image package. If you are able to generate output related to the FPD image package using this command, the upgrade should work properly.

Step 5 Save the configuration and reload the system with the new Cisco IOS release.

During the system startup after the reload, the necessary FPD image version check for all the ES+ line cards will be performed and any upgrade operation will occur automatically if an upgrade is required. In each upgrade operation, the system extracts the necessary FPD images to the ES+ line card from the FPD image package file located on the FTP or TFTP server.

Modifying the Default Path for the FPD Image Package File Location

By default, the Cisco IOS software looks for the FPD image package file on a Flash file system when performing an automatic FPD image upgrade.

Note Be sure there is enough space on one of your Flash file systems to accommodate the FPD image package file.

Alternatively, you can store an FPD image package file elsewhere. However, because the system looks on the Flash file systems by default, you need to change the FPD image package file location so that the system is directed to search an alternate location (such an FTP or TFTP server) that is accessible by the Cisco IOS software. Enter the upgrade fpd path fpd-pkg-dir-url global configuration command, where fpd-pkg-dir-url is the alternate location, to instruct the router to search for the FPD image package elsewhere.

When specifying the fpd-pkg-dir-url, be aware of the following:

The fpd-pkg-dir-url is the path to the FPD image package, but the FPD image package should not be specified as part of the fpd-pkg-dir-url. For instance, if the c7600-fpd-pkg.122-33.SRD.pkg file can be found on the TFTP server using the path mytftpserver/myname/myfpdpkg/c7600-fpd-pkg.122-33.SRD.pkg and you wanted the router to utilize this FPD image package for FPD upgrades, the upgrade fpd path tftp://mytftpserver/myname/myfpdpkg/ command should be entered so the router knows where to find the file. The actual filename should not be specified.

The final “/” character in the fpd-pkg-dir-url is required. In the preceding example, note that the fpd-pkg-dir-url is tftp://mytftpserver/myname/myfpdpkg/. Entering tftp://mytftpserver/myname/myfpdpkg (note: the final “/” character is missing) as the fpd-pkg-dir-url in that scenario would not work.

If the upgrade fpd path global configuration command has not been entered to direct the router to locate an FPD image package file in an alternate location, the system searches the Flash file systems on the Cisco 7600 series router for the FPD image package file.

Failure to locate an FPD image package file when an upgrade is required will disable the ES+ line card. Because ES+ line cards will not come online until FPD is compatible, the ES+ line card will also be disabled if it requires an FPD upgrade and the automatic upgrade feature is disabled.

Displaying Current and Minimum Required FPD Image Versions

To display the current version of FPD images on the ES+ line cards installed on your router, use the show hw-module [ slot-number | all ] fpd command, where slot-number is the slot number where the ES+ line card is installed. Entering the all keyword shows information for hardware in all router slots.

The following examples show the output when using this show command.

The output display in this example shows that FPD versions on the ES+ line cards in the system meet the minimum requirements: